Divinity II: Ego Draconis (Xbox 360)

I bought this game a week before it hit store shelves so I've had time to play it enough to know what I'm talking about. The graphics are done really well, the environements are outstanding, character design is good the only downfall I noticed with the graphics is facial expressions are very plain and lifeless.There is alot of adventuring to keep you busy for hours,plenty of side quests along with a good main plot. Eventually in the game you will gain the ability to summon and take control of dragons. There are some things that bug me about the game and one of the is the cross hair mechanics, you guide this little circle around to people you want to talk to, or search boxes and such and press the LB button.That gets annoying sometimes because people move around alot and it is sometimes frustrating to pin point them and most things you search are so close together that you miss alot of stuff.The difficulty could be a problem for some people to, beware of large groups of enemies, save often because nothing is more annoying then dying 2-3 hours into the game and having to start over from your last save.Besides the little problems I've had with the game are nothing compared to the fun I've had adventuring through what I've noticed to be a very large, adventerous game and if you are looking for a good rpg than ignore the bad reviews and get this game.

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The controls are awkward and there are a whole bunch of small bugs, and some larger ones around loading saved games. Fortunately, you get used to the controls after 2-3 hours and the intro quests, and I managed to get around the game load issues by deleting my saves and re-saving rather than over-writing. Once you get past these issues, there is a vast amount of content with a rich story line and vibrant world to explore. I was surprised at just how engrossed I became especially because, at the beginning, it really seemed like this game was going to be a dud. There's also a bit of a steep difficulty curve, but if you approach it as a bit of a strategy as well as an action hack 'n slash, using the pause button to target and plan as the manual indicates, and the difficulty is not only manageable but a large part of what made the game so engaging for me-- It wasn't just mindless button mashing to the goal. Because of all of this, I'm rating this game 5 stars, for the experience I had, even if the packaging wasn't flawless.

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This could have been a really great game, but it was rushed out to market and has some problems.

The graphics on this game are pretty sub-par and are, frankly, a disappointment on a system that is as capable as the Xbox 360. The textures are blocky and low resolution. You can easily tell that things such as trees are rendered as flat pictures when you are flying as a dragon, as you can look down on them and see that they have no depth. The trees will actually rotate with you and look like a piece of paper instead of a tree.

There are some graphical stuttering issues, as well as screen tearing issues. The cut scenes stutter and, at times, blink as they play.

Graphics: 4/10

There is a pretty serious bug with the game save system. You can save your game, play for an hour or so and then save over the previous game... if you get killed, your game will load at the previous location (not where you saved it) about 60 - 70% of the time. You will still have whatever you had at the second save and your progress will be saved, but you will start wherever you saved the time before. There is also an issue where you will get killed, reload the game, and then load to a red screen that freezes, making you have to quit the game and restart.

Save system: 1/10

The interaction system is flawed as well and it is difficult to talk to people, as you have to get right on them and click on them while they are walking away from you. It is also difficult to search chests, crates, and barrels because the system doesn't work well.

Interaction: 4/10

The game play is fun and there are some really good ideas at play. This game is recommended for fans of Oblivion and Dragon Age, as it shares a lot of the same ground as those much better games.

Now for the good things:

The inventory system is wonderful, as you can send items to your battle tower from the field, so you don't have to continually sell things or destroy them. What's even better about this is the fact that items in your chest are still available for your alchemist and enchanter, so you don't have to carry tons of stuff around in order to be able to enchant or make potions.

Inventory system: 10/10

Being a dragon is a lot of fun, but I have one problem with it. It appears that you cannot attack people on the ground with your dragon. I have tried this many times and I cannot get it to work. People on the ground will either disappear when you turn into a dragon, or they will be able to attack you while you can't attack them. Beyond that, being a dragon is good fun and the controls are pretty straight forward and easy. There are a decent number of good skills your dragon can use and it is pretty satisfying overall. It is, however, sometimes hard to get your character to turn into a dragon, as it does so slowly and it is a bit clumsy.

Being a dragon: 8/10

The standard RPG walking around stuff is, well, pretty standard. You walk around and look for enemies like all other RPGs. The enemies are sometimes difficult and you have to figure out strategies for attack and can't just run in and swing your sword. The mix of hack-and-slash action and magic is really good, but there is a delay between magic and physical attacks that makes battle a little clumsy at times. With this said, there are a great number of magic and battle skills available and it is VERY comprehensive. There is also an amazing array of weapons and armor and plentiful charms and enchantments to apply to them. You can create some very serious stuff pretty easily.

You can map attacks, spells, potions, etc. to the D-pad and the A, B, X, and Y buttons on your controller at will by pressing and holding the button or direction you want to assign something to and then choosing what you want. It is a nice system.

Combat: 8/10

Magic options: 9/10

Attack options: 8.5/10

This game would be an 8/10 if there weren't serious bugs, but it is a 6/10 as it stands. I would recommend waiting for a patch for this game before buying it.

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